Should SG Verrilli Be Criticized? After All, He Was Interrupted 103 Times in 56 Minutes

A veteran of Supreme Court oral arguments says Solicitor General Donald Verrilli shouldn’t be criticized for his Supreme Court performance last week.

In a column for the Washington Post, lawyer James Feldman says Verrilli was interrupted 103 times last Tuesday during his initial 56-minute argument to uphold the health law’s insurance mandate. A lawyer for the challengers, Paul Clement, was interrupted only 33 times in a 30-minute argument.

Often, Verrilli was able to speak only 20 words or so before getting another question.

“The only good measures of a Supreme Court advocate,” Feldman writes, “are whether he has made the best arguments in favor of his position and whether the justices understand those arguments. In this respect, Verrilli succeeded.”